Meteorology final

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A sea breeze circulation will reverse direction and become a land breeze...

once per day

In summer, during the passage of a sea breeze, which of the following is not usually observed?

A drop in relative humidity

Clouds and precipitation are frequently found on the downwind side of a large lake. This would indicate that the air on the downwind side is

converging and rising.

During the summer along the coast, a sea breeze is usually strongest and best developed...

in the afternoon

The winter monsoon in eastern and southern Asia is characterized by...

dry weather and winds blowing from land to sea.

While fly fishing in a mountain stream, you notice that the wind is blowing upstream. From this you might deduce that the wind is a

valley breeze

Surface low pressure becomes best developed over the Asian continent in the...

Summer

Cumulus clouds that appear above isolated mountain peaks are often the result of...

valley breezes

A katabatic wind is a ____, ____ wind.

cold, downslope

Strong Santa Ana winds develop in Los Angeles during the fall when a ____ pressure center forms to the ____ of Los Angeles over the Great Basin.

high, northeast

Another name for a small, rotating whirlwind observed at the surface is...

Dust Devil

In terms of the three-cell general circulation model, the driest regions of the earth should be near...

30° latitude and the polar regions

The average winds aloft are strongest in

the winter

Along a north-south oriented coastline in the Southern Hemisphere, upwelling would occur when winds blow from the

south

Upwelling occurs along the northern California coast because

winds cause surface waters to move away from the coast

In the Northern Hemisphere, ocean currents in the Atlantic and the Pacific move in a generally circular pattern. The direction of this motion is ____ in the Atlantic and ____ in the Pacific.

clockwise, clockwise

If huge waves pound against the beach communities of Southern California for several days during clear, calm weather, it is a good bet that:

the winds are strong somewhere out over the Pacific Ocean

Suppose a west wind of 20 knots blows over a coastal region which is densely covered in shrubs. If this same wind moves out over the middle of a large calm lake, its speed and direction would probably be:

greater than 20 knots and more northwesterly

A good source region for an air mass would be

generally flat areas of uniform composition with light surface winds.

A warm, moist air mass that forms over water is called

mT

What type of air mass would be responsible for hot, muggy summer weather in the eastern half of the United States?

mT

In Southern California, which air mass is mainly responsible for heavy rains, flooding in low-lying valleys, and melting of snow at high elevations?

mT

Record breaking low temperatures are associated with which air mass?

cP

During the spring, which air mass would most likely bring record-breaking high temperatures to the eastern half of the United States?

mT

Clear sunny days with very cold nights would be associated with what type of air mass?

cP

Cumuliform cloud development would be most likely in which of the following?

cP air mass moving over warm water

The rising of warm air up and over cold air is called

overrunning

According to the model of the life cycle of a wave cyclone, the storm system is normally most intense

when the system first becomes occluded.

In the polar front theory of a developing wave cyclone, energy for the storm is usually derived from all but which one of the following.

heat energy stored in the ground

If the flow of air into a surface low pressure area is greater than the divergence of air aloft, the surface pressure in the center of the low will

increase

Rossby waves are also known as

longwaves

Atmospheric shortwaves usually move ____ than longwaves, and ____ when they move through a longwave ridge.

faster, weaken

The only indication on the station model of past weather conditions is the a. temperature

pressure tendency

In the Southern Hemisphere,

d. precipitation associated with warm fronts tends to be gentle and prolonged

A prog is

d. a forecast chart that shows the atmosphere at some future time.

Which of the following explain why it is possible to see clouds on satellite photographs taken at night?

d. the clouds emit infrared light

Which of the following would probably be used to infer cloud altitude on a satellite photograph?

b. intensity of infrared emissions

A persistence forecast could be quite accurate when

b. you are positioned in the middle of a large, stationary air mass.

A weather forecast that predicts that the future weather will be the same as the present weather is called

c. a persistence forecast.

The forecasting technique that produces several versions of a forecast model, each beginning with slightly different weather information to reflect errors in the measurements, is called

d. ensemble forecasting.

A forecast of an extended period of dry weather would be made for a region beneath

d. an upper-level ridge.

By examining a surface map, the movement of a surface low pressure area can be predicted based upon the

all of these

Suppose it is warm and raining, and a cold front is moving toward your location. Directly behind the cold front it is cold and snowing. Still further behind the front the weather is cold and clearing. If the front is scheduled to pass your area in 6 hours, a persistence forecast for your area for 12 hours from now would be

warm and raining

At what time of day is the relative humidity normally at a minimum?

When air temperature is at its highest

Evaporative coolers are primarily used in climates where the summers are

hot and dry.

Dew is most likely to form on

Clear, Calm nights

For frozen dew to form

all of these.

Frost forms when

all of these. (objects on the ground cool below the dew point temperature. the dew point is 32° F or below. water vapor changes into ice without first becoming a liquid)

If fog is forming at Denver, Colorado, and the wind is blowing from the east, then the fog is most likely

upslope fog

Steam fog is actually a form of

evaporation (mixing) fog.

On a cold, calm autumn morning the formation of fog above a relatively warm lake would most likely be

steam fog

The term "cirro" tells you something about cloud ____.

altitude

At which city might you be able to observe cirrus clouds at an altitude of 3000 m (10,000 feet) above the surface?

Barrow, Alaska

A "mackerel sky" describes what type of cloud?

cirrocumulus

A low, lumpy cloud layer that appears in rows, patches or rounded masses would be classified

stratocumulus

An anvil-shaped top is most often associated with

cumulonimbus

Detached clouds of delicate and fibrous appearance, without shading, usually white in color and sometimes of a silky appearance are

d. cirrus.

The cloud with the greatest vertical growth is

cumulonimbus

Which cloud type is composed of ice crystals and can cause a halo to form around the sun or moon?

cirrostratus

Light or moderate-but-steady precipitation is most often associated with ____ clouds.

a. nimbostratus

Which below is not a way in which a contrail may form?

c. due to heating of the air by the engine exhaust

If all the water vapor in the atmosphere were to condense and fall to the ground, the globe would be covered with about ____ of water.

1 inch

Which of the following will increase in a rising parcel of air?

relative humidity

The rate at which the actual air temperature changes with increasing height above the surface is referred to as the

a. environmental lapse rate.

The most latent heat would be released in a ____ parcel of ____ saturated air.

a. rising, warm

A conditionally unstable atmosphere is ____ with respect to unsaturated air and ____ with respect to saturated air.

stable,unstable

If the environmental lapse rate is less than the moist adiabatic rate, the atmosphere is

absolutely stable

The difference between the "moist" and "dry" adiabatic rates is due to the fact that

d. latent heat is released by a rising parcel of saturated air.

When the environmental lapse rate decreases more rapidly with height than the dry adiabatic rate, the atmosphere is

b. absolutely unstable.

An inversion represents an extremely stable atmosphere because air that rises into the inversion will eventually become ____ and ____ dense than the surrounding air.

d. colder, more

Which cloud type would most likely form in absolutely stable air?

stratus

Which of the following is not an important factor in the production of rain by the collision-coalescence process?

c. the number of ice crystals in the cloud

The name commonly used to describe the drier region observed on the downwind (leeward) side of a mountain range is